Groupon Inc (GRPN) Makes Local Offerings More Fun With Side Tour

Groupon Inc (NASDAQ:GRPN) is making its local offerings more fun and exciting to entice consumers to keep coming back and discover new coupons to purchase. Strengthening the loyalty of its customer base is significant to boost its profitability.

Improvement in Groupon’s offering

In order to achieve that objective, Groupon Inc (NASDAQ:GRPN) needs to constantly improve its offerings, and the company is willing to pay a price. The daily deals company acquired Side Tour, an online marketplace engaged in booking and hosting curated local events that offers unique experiences and it operated in Chicago, New York, Philadelphia and Washington, D.C.

“The addition of SideTour’s curated local experiences furthers our vision of Groupon as the go-to place for consumers to find just about anything, anywhere, anytime,” according to the Greg Rudin, general manager of GrouponLive. He added that the acquisition allows the company to deliver more fun ways for its customers to explore the best local experiences by offering highly personalized and memorable activities and tours.

Side Tour offering private and public events

According to Groupon Inc (NASDAQ:GRPN), Side Tour is currently offering over 500 private and public events and more than 400 hosts are using its platform including artists, chefs, casting directors, sommeliers, and champions in the Olympics.

Side Tour CEO Vipin Goyal said Groupon will help boost its ability in finding compelling and unique local experts, and allows them to reach more customers through its platform. In addition, Goyal said, “We’re thrilled with the opportunity to showcase our fantastic events to a huge audience with a demonstrated appetite for great local experiences.” Side Tour will continue to operate as a separate entity for a certain period, and Groupon will offer its events to its 43 million actives customers.

Launch of Groupon Reserve

In July, Groupon Inc (NASDAQ:GRPN) started offering premium deals from top brands, entertainment & travel, restaurants, hotels etc through Groupon Reserve. Its CEO, Eric Lefkofsky said the launching of Groupon Reserve is an important step for the company to become the leading marketplace for daily deals.

Commenting on Groupon’s latest investment, Ascendiant Capital Markets, analyst Edward Woo said, “They’re trying to have more special, differentiated types of events for their users so they will build more loyalty and drive more traffic to their website, and this acquisition is similar along that path.”

Since the departure of its former CEO Andrew Mason, Groupon’s business started to show signs of stability. In fact, the stock price of the company surged from $2.60 per share to its closing price of $11.55 per share on Wednesday. The company’s second quarter financial results showed significant improvement with $0.02 earnings per share and $608 million revenue, up by 7% .

Author: Marie CaburalMarie received her Bachelors Degree in Mass Communication from New Era University. She is a former news writer and program producer for Nation Broadcasting Corporation (NBC-DZAR 1026), a nationwide AM radio station. She was also involved in events management. Marie was also a former Young Ambassador of Goodwill during the 26th Ship for Southeast Asian Youth Program (SSEAYP). She loves to read, travel and take photographs. She considers gardening a therapy.